Unable to reach a deal with Chicago Public Schools officials, teachers in the Windy City are on strike this week — a move that leaves 350,000 kids in limbo.

From afar, the first strike in that city in nearly a quarter century might be dismissed as a local issue. But from 30,000 feet — or at least the Mile High level — the Chicago teachers’ strike is built around familiar concepts: accountability, student achievement and charter schools, to name three.

This is a moment that very likely will test the significant steps made to reform public schools across the country. It is a fight about the future of education reform and what role teachers unions want to play in it.

One narrative that has floated from Chicago is that this strike is not about money. In actuality, it is.

A district with a budget deficit of more than $600 million is prepared — over the next four years — to give teachers 16 percent raises.

Would you take that deal? We would.

It’s also about the threat posed to the teachers unions by charter schools, particularly those able to boost student achievement without the burdens of a labor contract.

But the key issue in the debate is a teacher evaluation system tied to student achievement.

In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the school district are pushing a plan that would tie 40 percent of a teacher’s ratings to “student growth.”

According to one report, an estimated 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs under the new evaluation system.

The cold truth is that Chicago, and the rest of America, needs teachers who can push students to new heights. That cannot be done without assessments and goals. Money should flow to schools, and teachers, who get results.

The Chicago teachers are lucky by our standards. In Colorado, teachers will soon operate in an environment where 50 percent of their evaluations will be based on student growth,

Thankfully, Denver Public Schools in recent years have been able to craft reform plans that, while certainly not enacted without a fight from the teachers union, have been implemented without a work stoppage. The same can be said for many reforms — like Senate Bill 191, and student assessments and tracking — at the state level.

As such, those of us who support the types of education reforms that are making a difference in Denver and elsewhere should urge Mayor Emanuel and the Chicago school district to stand firm.